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REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS 



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FIRST THREE MEETINGS, 



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J^/r/!^ CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE SOCIETY. 



CINCINNATI: 
Peter G. Thomson, Publisher, 179 Vine Street, 



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REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS 



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w^/t:^ constitution and by-laws of the society. 



CINCINNATI: 

Peter G. Thomson, Publisher, 179 Vine Street, 

1880. 






1 



FIRST MEETING. 



JN^ 



\^ MOUNDSVILLE, W. VA., SEPTEMBER 22D AND 23D, 1870, 



The call for this meeting not having been generally 
circulated, there was but a small attendance, and unfortu- 
nately, no minutes of the meeting have been preserved. 

A permanent organization w^as not effected, but a 
committee consisting of 

Captain C. J. Rawling, 
Major M. W. Burt, and 
Captain R. H. Cochran, 

was appointed to report a Constitution and By-Laws to a 
meeting appointed to be held at Wheeling, October 19th, 
1871. 



Proceedings of the Society of 



PROCEEDINGS 



SECOND MEETING OF THE SOCIETY, 



Wheeling, W, Va., October 19th and 20th, 1871, 



This meeting was held on the Fair Grounds at 
Wheeling, at the time appointed, and was attended by 
several hundred veterans of the Army of West Virginia. 



FIRST DAY. 

General I. H. Duval was elected Chairman. 

The meeting was then opened with prayer by the 
Rev. T. M. Hudson. 

The committee appointed to draft a Constitution and 
By-Laws submitted the following, which was unani- 
mously adopted: 



The Army of West Virgini 



CONSTITUTION. 



(adopted at wheeling, OCTOBER I9, 1871.) 



ARTICLE I. 

Section i. This Association shall be known by the name and title of 
"The Society of the Army of West Virginia," and may include the 
Governors of the State of West Virginia, previous to the close of the 
war, every officer and enlisted man, who has at any time served with 
honor in that army, and been honorably discharged therefrom, or remains 
in service in the regular army ; also any officer and enlisted man, living 
in what was the department of West Virginia, but having served in other 
armies, and having been honorably discharged therefrom, who shall have 
given his assent to the Constitution and By-Laws of the society and paid 
his initiation fee. 

Sec. 2. Honorary members may, from time to time, be elected from 
those who have served with distinction in any of the other armies, or in 
the navy of the United States. 



ARTICLE 11. 

Sec. I. The objects of this Society shall be, to cherish the memories 
and associations of The Army of West Virginia, to strengthen the ties of 
fraternal fellowship and sympathy formed from companionship in the army ; 
to perpetuate the name and fame of those who have fallen either on the 
field of battle, or in the line of duty with that army; to collect and pre- 
serve the record of its great achievements, its numerous and well con- 
tested battles, its campaigns, marches and skirmishes. 

ARTICLE III. 

Sec. I. The officers of the society shall consist of a president, one 
vice-president, from each of the following named States, viz : Ohio, 



6 Proceedings of the Society of 

Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, 
Maryland and West Virginia — or one from each State furnishing troops 
for this army. A corresponding secretary, a recording secretary, and a 
treasurer. 

Sec. 2. These officers shall be elected at each annual meeting for 
the ensuing year. The president, corresponding secretary, recording 
secretary and treasurer, shall be chosen by ballot, by a majority vote of 
all the members of the society present. No debate upon the merits of 
the candidates shall be in order. The vice-presidents shall be chosen by 
the soldiers of each State, by a majority vote of the soldiers of the 
respective States present. 

Sec. 3. The society shall meet annually ; the time and place of 
each succeeding meeting to be selected by ballot at every reunion. All 
members of the society who may be prevented by any cause from per- 
sonally attending, are expected to notify the corresponding secretary, and 
to impart such information in regard to themselves as they may think 
proper, and which may be of interest to their brethren of the society. 

Sec. 4. The president, and either of the vice-presidents, shall be 
authorized to invite the attendance of any officer of the United States 
army or navy, at any of the meetings. 



ARTICLE IV. 

Sec. I. Political, or any other discussions foreign to the purposes of 
this society, as set forth in this Constitution, at any of the meetings, or 
any proceeding of such a tendency, are declared inimical to the purposes 
of this organization, and are prohibited. 



ARTICLE V. 

Sec. I. This Constitution may be altered or amended at any regular 
meeting of the society, provided the alteration or amendment proposed is 
submitted in writing, and filed with the recording secretary at least three 
months before the regular meeting, at which it is proposed to present the 
same; and provided further, that two-thirds of the members present at 
such meeting vote in favor thereof. 



The Army of West Virginia. 



BY-LAWS. 



1. Every ofificer and enlisted man desiring to become a member of 
this society shall, upon giving his assent to the Constitution, pay to the 
treasurer the sum of one dollar as annual dues, and shall thereupon be 
entitled to a copy of the proceedings of the society, when published, free 
of charge. 

2. No member shall be entitled to vote, who shall be in arrears. 

3. The diploma of membership, and the badge which shall be 
adopted by the society, shall be delivered to each member on payment of 
his initiation fee. 

4. The treasurer shall disburse all moneys of the society, upon the 
order of the executive committee attested by the signature of the chair- 
man, and shall at each annual meeting make a report in detail of his 
receipts and disbursements. The treasurer shall be required to give bond 
in the sum of one thousand dollars, to be approved by the executive com- 
mittee. 

5. When the place of the annual meeting shall be decided upon, the 
president shall appoint an excutive committee of seven (7) members, whose 
duty it shall be to make all needful preparations and arrangements for 
such meeting. The committee thus appointed shall be selected as far as 
practicable from residents near the place of meeting. 

6. No member of this society shall speak more than once on any 
subject or question of business, and no longer than five minutes, without 
consent of the society first obtained. 

7. The successive executive committees shall in due season select 
an orator, to deliver an address appropriate to the occasion, at each 
annual meeting. 

8. The recording secretary shall cause a book of records to be 
kept, exhibiting the address and occupation of every member of the 
society. 



8 Proceedings of the Society of 

9. The president shall appoint tellers for the elections required by 
the Constitution. 

The elections, except at the first meeting, shall not take place until 
after the address has been delivered. 

10. The election of officers shall be conducted as follows: 

First, a ballot for president, to be continued until some member 
receives a majority of the votes cast. 

Second, a ballot for vice-president by States. 

Third, a ballot for corresponding secretary, recording secretary and 
treasurer, on a single ticket, the balloting to be continued until these 
officers are elected by a majority of the votes cast. 

In balloting for officers other than vice-presidents, the votes shall be 
deposited in a box in charge of the tellers. 

11. In the absence of the president, the vice-president senior in 
rank present at the meeting shall preside. 

1 2. The recording secretary must notify all the officers of the society 
and the executive committee of any proposed amendment to the Consti- 
tution, immediately upon receipt thereof, and publish the same in such 
journals as the president may direct. 

13. A full report of such meeting shall be printed, and copies 
forwarded to every member entitled to receive the same. 

14. Honorary members may be elected by a three-fourths vote of 
the members present, at any annual meeting. 

15. A majority vote of all the members present at any regular 
meeting shall be required to alter or amend these by-laws. 

16. Cushing's Manual of Parliamentary Law shall be authority for 
the government and regulation of all meetings of this society. 



After music the chairman introduced the Hon. B. \ 

Stanton, who spoke as follows: ( 

Fellow-Citizens and Soldiers: — I am the only representative of ( 

the city government in a condition to welcome you to our city to-day. 
The city council, headed by our mayor, being absent from home par- 
taking of the hospitalities of the city of Baltimore, I appear on behalf of 
our city to welcome you. I will not attempt to make a speech to you. 



The Army of West Virginia. 9 

I consider this a fit place to meet, welcome and congratulate each other, 
as the State in which we now meet owes its existence to the war in which 
you battled. It will always give our citizens pleasure to welcome you to 
these re-unions, which are happy and yet important affairs. It is one of 
the melancholy thoughts that year by year some places are vacant ; one 
by one they are passing away ; " many a lad is dead and many lass grown 
old," as from year to year these occurrences greet you. Again I welcome 
you. 

Captain R. H. Cochran was then introduced, who 
made the address on behalf of the society. After alluding 
in fitting and eloquent terms to the fitness of the day and 
the hour for holding a re-union, owing to the fact that 
seven years ago that very day and hour, Sheridan was 
making his famous ride, and the battle of Cedar Creek 
was being fought, he said: 

Comrades : — In the name of The Society of the Army of West Virginia, 
I bid you welcome to-day. I congratulate you that He whose loving kind- 
ness followed you on the weary march and through the appalling storms of 
battle, has kept you in the year past, and now permits so many of us to 
meet again. Soldier, who ten years ago left the furrow and shouldered 
the musket to conquer an honorable peace — welcome. Soldier, who left 
the workshop, the factory, the mill, and gave an unoffending nation in 
the hour of need a muscle of steel, a lion heart, an intelligent will and a 
ready obedience — welcome ! Soldier, who bade adieu to wife, children 
and home to incur hardships, endure privations, and in a thousand ways 
learn the sad realities of war — welcome ! Welcome all. We bid you a 
soldier's welcome. We bid you the welcome of love. We bid you the 
welcome of hope, and we bid you that broad fraternal welcome of charity, 

" Which shines to-day so grand and high 
Under the dome of the Union sky." 

As I stand to-day in your presence and reflect that but yesterday you 
were the actors in a military drama that shook the political world, there is 
an awfulness in the thought that almost overwhelms me. I am carried 
back to a thousand scenes of a few short years of the last decade. Out 
of the chaos and carnage of then, has come the grand, prosperous and 
promising present. The diversity of then is lost in the unity and identity 



10 Proceedings of the Society of 

of now. He who was our foe is now our friend; and though we are this 
day met as late soldiers of the Union army, to renew the social relation of 
the past, and by that means fit ourselves for a higher usefulness in the 
future, yet we can say to him, who so late was a foe, we are friends. Our 
American hearts are touched with a common impulse, they vibrate as a 
single chord; with a common pride our eyes behold a common country 
and a single flag ; as citizens, we worship at a common shrine. Thy 
people are my people, thy God my God ; whither thou goest I may go, 
where thou livest I may live ; where thou diest I may die, and there may 
I be buried. 

I am sure that it is in a fraternal spirit like this that we are to-day 
assembled, and it is from this exalted stand that we can look down the 
past and into the clear upper sky of the future. While we feel a com- 
mendable pride in the consciousness of duty well done in a cause tending 
to make this good world of ours better, nevertheless we know it is not in 
the heart of any true soldier to wound the pride of a conquered, honor- 
able foe, and it has been one of the gratifying features of my observation 
and experience that since the war there has been among the soldiers of 
the two armies a greater degree of cordiality and a much higher appre- 
ciation than before, and we can say of them as we can ourselves, we love 
each other for the dangers we have passed. While we must ever feel that 
that for which they battled was not the better cause, yet we thank God 
for the results of the war. 

It has swept away from the body poUtic a huge monstrosity that 
threatened anarchy and annihilation. The system of human slavery made 
bondsmen of the master and slave as well. It aspired to absolute 
sovereignty over the consciences of men, and threatened death to Repub- 
lican government and free institutions. It kept aflame the acrid, dis- 
cordant passions of men, and reveled in the prospects of dismemberment. 
It degraded labor, capital and mind, and was the Pandora's box whence 
came all our domestic strife and national ills. The war killed it, and 
with it let the bitter memories of the past be buried in an eternity of 
forgetfulness. 

And now, fellow soldiers and citizens, let us stand forth clothed in our 
right mind, and a higher, purer, hoHer civilization. After we shall have 
mingled together on this occasion, let us go to our homes and enter upon 
the duties of another year, inspired with new life, and with the grand 
idea that humanity to man is obedience to God. Let us teach our chil- 
dren the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and from the political 
revolution in which we have taken so active a part, let us transmit to 
posterity the spirit of progressive moral renovation. Then indeed will 



The Army of West Virginia. 11 

our land become one resplendent in beauty, unequaled in glory, and the 
abiding place of truth, knowledge, virtue and religion, and in that grand 
final re-union of our dead and living soldiers in the better land, the Master 
will say of us : "Well done, good and faithful." 

Lieutenant Clarkson was then loudly called for, and 
finally accepted the situation, and said: 

Fellow Soldiers and Citizens: — I had not expected to address 
you until to-morrow, but many gentlemen who were expected to speak 
to-day are absent. I feel to-day like an eighteen-inch shell, just ready to 
be shot off, and make a big noise when shot. Nothing so moves me as 
to meet men who fought for the same flag as I. Knowing this, I am 
ready to speak to you. None who have spoken have talked soldier talk ; 
do you remember the line of battle, when the forts looked as big as that 
mountain, and cannon mouths big enough to drive a six-mule team in? 
At such times I was always scared; some men say they never cared for 
such things, that they were brave at such times, but I did care; you 
remember it, cannon above you, cannon around you — Forward? if there 
was a tree in the neighborhood I wanted it, I have been in thirty-nine 
battles and skirmishes, and thirty-nine times scared — and you have all 
been in the same fix. Comrades, do you remember the night before the 
battle ? How you entered into a covenant with a comrade to care for 
each other — to take a message to the loved ones at home ? Here old 
feuds were forgotten and old c^uarrels settled — you remember it. I had 
such a comrade that I could always tie to. I was hit twelve or fifteen 
times, but that don't count, for I killed as many of them as they did of me. 

I hope our meeting to-morrow will be ten times as large as to-day — 
that we may raise such a fund as will enable us to follow each other to 
the last long home. 

Lieutenant Clarkson's address was very enthusiasti- 
cally received, and was indeed a very happy little speech; 
we regret being unable to give it in full. 

After Lieutenant Clarkson's address, and music, 
Captain C. J. Rawling was introduced, who read the 
Constitution and By-Laws, which were unanimously 
adopted. 

A recess was then taken, to give those present an 



12 Proceedings of the Society of 

opportunity to join the society, and a large number availed 
themselves of the opportunity. 

After a short time the society was called to order, and 
Hon. Wm. Lawrence, Colonel of the 84th O. V. Infantry, 
of Bellefontaine, Ohio, was introduced. He made a very 
happy address of some length, which was enthusiastically 
received b}'^ the audience. Immediately following this 
address, the meeting adjourned. 



The Army of West Virginia. 13 



SECOND DAY. 



OCTOBER 2orH. 



An increased number of comrades was in attendance. 

The procession was formed in front of the court house 
at lo o'clock A. M., and marched to the fair grounds, 
where the meeting was called to order by the chairman, 
General Duval. 

The first business in order being election of officers, 
nominations for president were declared in order. Col- 
onel Lawrence, of Ohio, General Hayes, of Ohio, General 
Kennedy, of Ohio, and General Duval, of West Virginia, 
were nominated. General Kennedy withdrew in a neat 
little speech, seconding the nomination of General R. B. 
Hayes, who was, thereupon, elected by acclamation. 

Nominations for vice-presidents were then declared 
in order. General R. H. Milroy, of Indiana, General 
W. E. F. Reynolds, of New York, Colonel W. S. Lin- 
coln, of Massachusetts, and Colonel Cole, of Maryland, 
being the only nominations from those States, they were 
also, on motion, elected by acclamation. 

Nominations for West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and 
Ohio, were then made, and an election entered into. The 
following were elected: Major O. G. Scofield, of West 
Virginia, General R. P. Kennedy, of Ohio, and Captain 
J. P. Hart, of Pennsylvania. 

Captain C. J. Rawling was elected corresponding 
secretary, Captain John H. Shuttlesworth, recording secre- 
tary, and Captain John Carlin, treasurer. 



14 Proceedings of the Society of 

Lieutenant Clarkson moved that the retiring president 
and secretary write to the officers elect — not present — 
and inform them of their election. Carried. 

A special committee, consisting of Messrs. Clarkson, 
Hart, Kennedy, Burt and Rawling was appointed to report 
to the meeting whether it was advisable to select a place 
for the next session or leave it for the executive com- 
mittee. After a recess, during which the band discoursed 
most excellent music, the committee nominated the cities 
of Zanesville, Ohio, and Washington, Pennsylvania, for 
the next session. The report was adopted, and a ballot 
entered into, which resulted in the selection of Zanesville. 

On motion it was resolved that a copy of the Consti- 
tution and By-Laws of the society, together, with the pro- 
ceedings of this meeting, be printed in pamphlet form 
and mailed to the members of the society. This closing 
the business, General Kennedy, vice-president for Ohio, 
was introduced, and spoke as follows: 



REMARKS OF GENERAL KENNEDY. 

General Kennedy was inti'oduced by General Duval. 
He said: 

It was particularly pleasant to meet on occasions like this— these 
oases in the desert of life which arise with their cooling streams to cheer 
and bless us. While they were congregating here to-day, as he trusted 
they might congregate from year to year, let them not be unmindful of 
their gallant comrades who lie in quiet graves on those far off battle fields. 
Their quiet tombs are to-day burning like silent watch fires on the altar 
of the nation's liberty. To-day their silent monuments can make no 
utterance. They tell us that beneath them lie such forms as Thoburn, 
Reynolds, and your own gallant Bier, but their white lips are silent. 
They can tell not of their devotion and gallantry ; and they cannot tell 
you how on the field of battle a bright life went out, sacrificed on the 
altar of its country. 



The Army of West Virginia. 15 

He paid a glowing tribute to the women of America for their devoted 
services in the war in nursing and comforting the sick and wounded in 
the hospital and on the field. He said while England had but one 
Florence Nightingale, there came from thousands of American homes and 
hamlets women just as noble, just as pure, just as true to the cause of 
suffering humanity as she. He alluded to the incident when Geo. H. 
Stuart, president of the Soldiers' Aid Society, after the battle of Gettys- 
burg, telegraphed to the Boston merchants, asking if he might draw on 
them for six thousand dollars, and received a reply that he might draw 
for sixty thousand ; and said a nation whose sons can die in defence of 
its liberties, whose women can take the field when there is need, and 
whose merchant princes can open their coffers at the call of their country, 
could never die. (Applause.) 

We live in a great age, in a land of progress, civilization and achieve- 
ment. He hastily ran over some of the great achievements of recent 
years as illustrating the progress of the world, and said the land was 
filled with the power and arts of commerce. This civilization, he said, 
is ours, yours and mine, bought with the blood and treasure of your 
bravest and best, made dear to us by the sacrifices of 300,000 on the field 
of battle. As we consecrate it here to-day forever to liberty and right, 
here beneath this blue dome of heaven to-day, in this beautiful city, in 
this new State, redeemed, regenerated, disenthralled, baptized in the 
blood of our noblest and best, and consecrated forever to liberty, beneath 
the very shadows of our mountains, whose mighty peaks resounded the 
thunders of battle — here to-day in memory of these three hundred thou- 
sand whose quiet graves, like silent watchfires, are burning on -the altar 
of liberty, let us pledge ourselves anew to the protection of that liberty 
which these men died to save, and which it is ours to preserve and per- 
petuate. 



16 Proceedings of the Society of 



LETTERS. 

Letters were then read from those who were unable 
to be present. We give only a portion of them. 



from general sherman. 

Headquarters Army of the United States, 
Washington, D. C, September ^, 1871. 

General B. F. Kelly, General I. H. Duval, and C. J. Rawling, Esq., 
Committee : 

Dear Sirs: — I have received your very kind letter of invitation for 
me to attend the reunion of the Society of the Army of West Virginia at 
Wheehng, on the 19th and 20th of October, and regret exceedingly that I 
cannot possibly be there at that time. I have been away so much of late, 
and still am forced to go to St. Louis in October, that to make another 
appointment would be out of the question. 

I thank you truly for the hearty manner in which you invite me, and 
assure you that I honor you for preserving sacredly the memories of that 
war which has given our nation a new lease of life. With great respect, 
yours truly, 

W. T. Sherman, General. 



FROM general MILROY. 

Delphi, Indiana, October^, 1871. 

Messrs. General B. F. Kelly, General I. H. Duval, and C. J. Raw- 
ling, Committee on Invitation. 

Dear Sirs: — I received some six weeks ago, a copy of your circular 
of invitation to attend the reunion of the Army of West Virginia, to be 



The Army of West Virginia. 17 

held at Wheeling on the 19th and 20th inst. I received a few days ago, 
another copy of the same, dated 26th ult., endorsed by a few friendly 
lines on behalf of your committee by Mr. Rawling, urging my attend- 
ance at your reunion. 

I beg pardon for my seeming neglect in answering your first. My 
excuse for delaying to answer is that I was waiting in hopes that some 
favorable pecuniary development in my financial affairs would enable me 
to say with certainty to you, that I would be with you on the 19th and 
20th inst., as there is no place outside of heaven that would give me 
more real pleasure to be at than a reunion where I could once more meet 
and greet my gallant patriotic West Virginia companions in arms, with 
whom I commenced and spent the two first years of our late great war- 
But I regret to say that I have not yet been able to discover any way by 
which I can flank the pecuniary obstacles in the way of my attending 
your reunion, and greatly fear I shall be unable to come. I have watched 
West Virginia, the only child of the war of the great rebellion, with deep 
interest since the time of her birth. Her mountains, valleys and streams 
were indelibly mapped on my memory by Phillipi, Laurel Hill, Carrick's 
Ford, Cheat Mountain, Huntersville, Greenbrier, Alleghany Summit, 
Monterey, McDowell, Franklin, and by many marches and skirmishes in 
the great struggle that gave her birth. Her many brave soldiers and 
patriotic citizens whom I met and was associated with during that event, 
have inspired my warmest wishes for her greatest success and prosperity, 
I believe it would add several years to my Hfe to again have the pleasure 
of breathing her pure, free, moutain air with my surviving comrades, her 
veteran fathers. Be assured I will come, if possible. If I should be 
unable to do so, please give, with my highest respects to old comrades 
present, a most hearty God bless you, from your fellow soldier and friend. 

Truly, 

R. H. MiLROY. 



from governor jacob. 

State of West Virginia, Executive Department, 
Charleston, September 30, 1871. 

General B. F. Kelly, I. H. Duval, and C. J. Rawling, Committee: 

Gentlemen : — I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter, inviting me to be present at the reunion of the Society of the Army 



18 Proceedings of the Society of 

of West Virginia, to be held in Wheeling, on the 19th and 20th of Octo- 
ber. I regret that some engagements of long standing will probably 
place it out of my power to be present on so interesting an occasion. I 
trust that this reunion of old comrades in arms will be most auspicious, 
and that men who so gallantly maintained the cause of the Union in times 
past, will, in this time of peace, sustain with unfaltering patriotism its 
integrity, dignity and glory. With sincere thanks for the honor you have 
conferred upon me, I am yours, 

Very respectfully, 

John J. Jacob. 



Resolutions were then adopted, tendering the thanks 
of the society to the citizens of Wheeling, for their gen- 
erous aid, financial and otherwise; to the Fairmont Band, 
for gratuitously furnishing music; to the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad, for reduction of fare; also to the authori- 
ties of the State of West Virginia for the use of the flags 
carried during the war b}^ the regiments of West Virginia. 

A motion was adopted instructing the president of the 
society to memorialize Congress at the next session to 
enact a law giving to soldiers who served ninety days or 
more in the war of 1861-5, a bounty of 160 acres of land 
without requiring them to settle on the same. 

A poem composed by Colonel A. J. H. Duganne, and 
read at the Reunion of the Army and Navy of the Gulf, 
July 8, 1869, was then read by General Capehart, which 
was well received. 

The following original song was then sung by Capt. 
R. H. Cochran, the crowd joining in the chorus: 

Cheer for the banner, as we rally 'neath its stars; 
It yet floats above us as it did through the wars. 
At home, in peace, or on the field, 'mid bullets, blood and scars — 
Cheer for the dear old flag. 

Chorus. — Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 
Glory, glory, hallelujah! 
Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 

God bless the dear old flag ! 



The Army of West Virginia, 19 

We meet again to talk and sing of battles lost and won ; 
To thank the God of Battles for the sweets of freedom's home, 
And brighten every memory of the dear companions gone — 
Cheer for the dear old flag ! 

Chorus — 

From the valley and the mountain, and from every hill and plain ; 
From sea to sea, from Lakes to Gulf, comes Liberty's refrain : 
Each son of God's a freeman — may be citizen and man- 
Beneath that dear old flag. 

Chorus — 

Let's remember that when darkness enshrouded our loved land, 
Our mothers, wives and sisters, (God bless the holy band,) 
By day and night, in every way, gave us their helping hand. 
And prayed for the dear old flag. 

Chorus — 

God bless our country, and animate each State 
To cultivate each virtue and to bury every hate. 

Strength is found alone in union, and the "good alone are great" — 
Cheer for the dear old flag. 

Chorus— 

Calls were made for Mr. J. St. J. Clarkson, who came 
forward and spoke in a humorous vein a few moments, 
and concluded by reading a very beautiful poem, which 
has had a fugitive existence two or three years in the 
newspapers, the authorship of which is unknown. 

After Lieutenant Clarkson's address, the president 
announced that the ceremonies of the day were com- 
pleted. Cheers were called for Generals Duval, Ken- 
nedy, and others, and were loudly responded to. The 
crowd then began to disperse; the column was soon 
formed, and marched into town, when a general parting 
took place. 



20 Proceedings of the Society of 



CALL FOR THE MARIETTA MEETING. 



No meeting of the society having been held since that 
at Wheeling, General Crook and many others had fre- 
quently expressed a desire for a reunion of the surviving 
members of the command, and to that end the follov^ing 
order was issued: 



Headquarters Army of West Virginia, 
Marietta, Ohio, June 2, 1879. 



General Order No. i. 



In pursuance of the action taken by members of the Army of West 
Virginia, at the Fifth National Reunion of Soldiers and Sailors of the late 
war, held in this city September 4th to 7th, 1878, a meeting of that Army 
will be held at these Headquarters in this city on Tuesday, June loth, 
1879, at 10 o'clock, A. M., for the purpose of considering the propriety 
of holding a reunion of the Army at this place during the present year. 
Any soldier who at any time during the war served in West Virginia, 
is entitled and expected to take part in this meeting and reunion. 
By order of 

Major-General George Crook, 

Covimanding. 
Jewett Palmer, Major and A. A. G. 

The meeting called by this order was held at the time 
appointed with a fair representation from the various regi- 
ments of the old Kanawha division and other parts of the 
army. 

On motion Major Jewett Palmer was chosen chairman 
and George K. Jenvey, secretary. 



The Army of West Virginia. 21 

Remarks were made by several comrades expressing 
their cordial interest in the proposed meeting, and letters of 
similar import were read from General Crook and others. 
It was then — 

^^ Resolved, That a meeting of the "Army of West Virginia" be 
held at Marietta, Ohio, September 19th, 1879, to which all those who 
served in the department shall be invited." 

Colonel R. L. Nye, M. McMillin and General Rich- 
ardson were appointed by the chair to present names in 
accordance with the following resolution: 

" Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed by the chair to 
report at an adjourned meeting suitable names to constitute an executive 
committee." 

Adjourned for dinner to meet at 1 150 P. M. 



Met pursuant to adjournment, when the committee 
made the following report: 

"Your committee respectfully recommended that the following 
named gentlemen be appointed to constitute an executive committee 
to carry into effect the resolution for a meeting of the Army of West 
Virginia, passed at this meeting, viz: 

" Major Jewett Palmer, 36th Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; Colonel V. 
H. Bukey, nth Virginia Infantry; Sergeant M. McMillin, 2d Virginia 
Cavalry; Geo. K. Jenvey, 2d Virginia Cavalry; Wm. Thorniley, 92d 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry; General B. D. Fearing, 92d Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry; Sergeant David Dow, Pierpoint Battery; Lieutenant H. B. 
lams, De Beck's Battery; Dr. Waterman, 4th Virginia Infantry; Dr. 
McClure, 23d Ohio Volunteer Infantry; General H. F. Devol, 36th 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 

"That any five of said committee shall constitute a (luorum, and 
that said committee have power to add to their number such persons as 
will assist them, and that they make and carry into effect such plans 
and arrangements for said meeting on September 19th, 1879, as they 
deem proper." 

Geo. K. Jenvev, 

Secretary. 



22 Proceedings of the Society of 

In pursuance of this action the following circular was 
issued by the committee on invitations, appointed by the 
executive committee: 

Headquarters Society of the Army of West Virginia, 
* Marietta, Ou\o, July 25, 1879. 

Deal- Sir : — The soldiers of the army of West Virginia will nieet on 
the 19th of September, 1879, at Marietta, Ohio. 

The object of this society is social, designed to collect and preserve 
the history and memories of the war, and to perpetuate the name and 
fame of the members of this army, who fell in the service of their country. 

You are cordially invited to be present and participate. Letters of 
inquiry may be addressed to General B. D. Fearing, chairman com- 
mittee of invitation, Marietta, Ohio. 

We earnestly solicit your acceptance. 

Although efforts were made to give wide circulation 
to this call, the committee were afterwards compelled to 
regret that, by accident, it was not distributed in some 
localities from which the Army of West Virginia received 
large numbers of its veterans. 

Nevertheless, a large and enjoyable meeting was the 
result. 



MARIETTA, OHIO. 



SEPTEMBER I9TH, 1879 — MORNING. 

At 9}^ o'clock the veterans to the number of four 
hundred or more assembled at the National House, where 
a reception was held by ex-Governor Dennison, Ohio's old 
war governor, which was attended by all the old soldiers 
and large numbers of citizens. After the reception, the 
boys were formed in line and escorted by the Putnam 
Light Artillery, headed by the Turner Band, to the City 



The Army of West Virginia. 23 

Hall. The streets were lined with people, who evinced 
their appreciation and delight by cheers and waving of 
handkerchiefs. In the rear of the procession, which was 
over two squares in length, were the distinguished guests 
of the day in carriages, escorted by the " Silver Grays," 
an organization composed of old and respected citizens, 
the youngest being over sixty years of age. In the car- 
riages were Governor Dennison, General Crook, General 
Hickenlooper, Chaplain Grimes, and members of the 
committee. The procession was under the command of 
General Ben Fearing. When the procession reached the 
hall they found a large audience awaiting them. It was a 
grand sight to look upon. The meeting was called to 
order by Major Jewett Palmer, who announced the first 
thing would be the singing of "John Brown's Body" by 
the entire audience, which was done with vim and enthu- 
siasm. Chaplain Grimes, of the 92d Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, offered up a fervent prayer, which was followed 
by music by the Turner Band, after which General Fear- 
ing read the following letters, among others, from mem- 
bers and invited guests unable to be present: 



24 Proceedings of the Society of 



LETTERS. 



from general p. h. sheridan. 

Headquarters Military Division of the Missouri, 
Chicago, August 2isi, 1879. 

Dear General — Your kind letter of the i8th inst. is just at hand, and 
I am very sorry to say that I do not see how I can very well fix my 
affairs so as to be with the army of West Virginia on the date named. I 
have several engagements that I must fill in September, and all the time 
I feel at liberty to take from my duties, is spoken for. Please give my 
kindest regards to all who speak of or ask after me. There is, as yet, no 
society of the army of the Shenandoah. We have talked it over many 
times at my headquarters, and it is the intention of some of the old offi- 
cers to eventually call a meeting and organize one. No army will have 
prouder recollections to advert to, or to commemorate. I am, General, 
Very truly yours, 

P. H. Sheridan, 
Lieutenant General U. S. Artny. 
General B. D. Fearing, 

Chairman Committee on Invitation, Marietta, Ohio. 



from prince GARDNER, M. D. 



Wilkesville, Ohio, September 2>, 1879. 



Dear Sir — ^^I am in receipt of a circular, " Headquarters Society of 
the Army of West Virginia." I had the honor to hold a commission in the 
the I St Regiment West Virginia Cavalry, first as assistant and subsequently 
as surgeon, and served three years in that capacity with the Army of West 
Virginia. The first officer of rank belonging to ist West Virginia Cavalry, 
Major Josiah Steel was under my professional care from the day he was 



The Army of West Virginia. 25 

wounded (3d of May, 1863,) until the date cf his death, May 28th, 1863, 
also the last officer of rank who fell at Appomattox on the night of 
the 8th of April, 1865, belonging to ist West Virginia Cavalry. I should 
be pleased to present a memorial of these brave men along with many 
others who fell under my personal observation. If this proposition will 
be accepted, and the offering acceptable, please inform me, and I shall 
take great pleasure in attending the meeting. 

I am very respectfully. 

Prince Gardner, M. D. 



from general w. s. rosecrans. 

Abbotsford House, San Francisco, California, 
September ^th, 1879, ' 

Dear General — Your favor of the 12th ult., enclosing the circular of 
the Society of The Army of West Virginia, announcing its annual meet- 
ing at Marietta on the 19th inst., has been received. 

I thank you for its kind expressions and cordial invitation to be 
present. I thank my comrades of that society for placing my name so 
high among those of that band of patriots and heroes. From this far 
western shore of the great republic, for the unity of which we fought — I 
greet you all. 

The name of the society brings vividly before me the scenes and 
incidents of that first campaign which, in 1861, defeated the attempts of 
the rebellion to occupy, and of Old Virginia's favorite son and com- 
mander, Lee, to drag its citizens west of the Alleghanies at the heels of 
the Old Dominion ; dried up at its source the spirit of guerrilla warfare, 
which tried to enter those wild regions so well adapted to give it life, and 
established on foundations of law and order never after overthrown, the 
beautiful and patriotic State of West Virginia. As I write, her wild and 
wooded mountains, her narrow valleys threaded with silver streams, her 
scanty, winding and lonesome roads spread out before me, and with them 
come again to mind the difficulties of defending from invasion so vast a 
region. Then come before me the host of heroic officers and soldiers — 
companions-in-arms — many of whom have fallen on fields of glory, many 
who yet survive, heroes living, whom the country honors — heroes dead, 
who fell and are forgotten — whose deeds, interwoven, make the warp and 
woof of that web which forms the robe of a united nation's greatness j 



26 Proceedings of the Society of 

and in that same august company come the civic heroes of West Virginia, 
worthy co-laborers in laying the foundations of the new State. 

Of your marches, your watchings, toils, privations, combats and 
triumphs I must not begin to speak, nor attempt to mention names or 
incidents, so well remembered, of that army and service. 

Convey my greeting to all our comrades ; and do not fail to express 
for me the affectionate remembrance in which I bear beautiful Marietta 
and her intelligent and ever loyal citizens.. 

Your comrade, 

w. s. rosecrans. 
General B. D. Fearing, 

Chairman Cojumittee on Invitation, etc., Marietta, Ohio. 



FROM general R. B. HAYES. 

Soldiers' Home, Washington, 20th August, 1879. 

My Dear General — I received a few days ago from General Crook a 
programme of the Reunion of the Army of West Virginia at Marietta 
on the 19th of September next. I regret that engagements already made 
will prevent me from meeting at that time my old comrades of the Army 
of West Virginia with whom I served so long. I wish, however, to 
assure them of my warm approval of the objects of the society. Perhaps 
no considerable body of the Union forces was more harmonious, and more 
free from jealousies and unfriendly rivalries, than the Army of West 
Virginia. 

I am particularly gratified that it has been thought best that all 
honorably discharged soldiers and officers of every rank shall be eligible 
to membership, and that all who fought side by side in support of the 
good cause of nationality and equal rights may again assemble to enjoy 
together a revival of the friendships and memories of their army life. 

With best wishes for all of our comrades, 

I remain sincerely, 

R. B. Hayes. 

General B. D. Fearing, 

Chairf?ian Conunittee on Invitation, Marietta, Ohio. 



The Army of West Virginia. 27 

from e. f. kelly. 

Hot Springs, Arkansas, Scptembn- i8, 1879. 

General B. D. Fearing, Chairman Committee on Invitation, etc.: 

Your invitation and kind note did not reach me till this morning, too 
late for me to attend the reunion — this I regret. Please say to the com- 
rades, that though absent in person, I am with them in spirit. I trust 
that means may be adopted to perpetuate the heroic deeds of the army 
of the department of West Virginia, and to fully record the patriotism, 
sacrifices and gallant services of the soldiers of West Virginia. 
Yours sincerely, 

B. F. Kelly. 



FROM GENERAL J. D. COX. 

Cincinnati, Ohio, September iT,/h, 1879. 

My Dear General — The necessary absence of my partner, leaving 
me alone in my office with important engagements at the time of your 
meeting, will, unfortunately, prevent my being with the Society of the 
Army of West Virginia, on the 19th. It is a matter of sincere regret- 
and is a real disappointment to me. I would heartily enjoy the oppor, 
tunity of once more taking by the hand the comrades of my earliest 
campaigns. Will you not express to them, in my name, my congratula- 
tions on their assembly, and my deep regrets at my necessary absence. 

Very sincerely yours, 

J. D. Cox. 
General B. D. Fearing, 

Chairman Committee on Invitation, etc. 

P. S. — ^Your general sketch of the work of the Army of West Vir- 
ginia is sufficiently correct, though the list of commanders is not classified 
as it might be. I do not remember that General Roberts ever com- 
manded the department, am indeed quite sure he did not. He was chief 
of staff to General Pope, and hence his name would be attached to many 
orders issued from "Headquarters Mountain Department," or depart- 
ment of Virginia, in 1862. A sketch of the organization of the com- 
mand might help you. 

McClellan was first commandant of the department of the Ohio, 



28 Proceedings of the Society of 

When he made his campaign of Rich Mountain, in July, 1861, he sent 
me with a smaller force up the Great Kanawha valley, giving me the 
* ' District of the Kanawha " as my command, reaching from Parkersburg 
to Guyandotte on the river, and back toward the east as far as we could 
occupy the country. 

We entered the valley on the nth July, and drove out the rebel 
forces under General Wise, reaching Gauley Bridge, the limit placed to 
our advance by our orders, 29th July. The movement was a continued 
lively skirmish, but with no serious engagement. Wise making only one 
determined stand, viz: at Scarey Creek. The troops in the movement 
were the nth, 12th and 2TSt Ohio, and the ist and 2d Kentucky regi- 
ments with a small squad of horsemen and a couple of cannon. The 2d 
Kentucky had landed, under my orders, at Guyandotte, and had a brisk 
and very successful engagement with the enemy at Barboursville, after 
which they joined me by way of Coal Mouth, in the Kanawha Valley 
proper. A litde later the 21st Ohio was relieved by the 26th Ohio, and 
went back to Ohio to reorganize in the three years' service, 

McClellan having been ordered to Washington in the latter part of 
July, General Rosecrans became department commander, and marched 
southward from Clarksburg toward my position at Gauley Bridge, 
near which Floyd had concentrated the confederate army. Floyd drove 
the 7th Ohio from Cross Lanes near Carnifax Ferry, on 26th August, that 
being one of a chain of posts of observation connecting Gauley Bridge 
with General Rosecrans' command. At same time, Wise, with another 
column, demonstrated upon my advance posts beyond Gauley Bridge on 
New river, and was repulsed. 

On the 1 2 th September, General Rosecrans attacked Floyd at Car- 
nifax Ferry and drove him over Gauley river. My command immedi- 
ately moved against Wise, up New river. Wise retreated, and Floyd, by 
converging road from Carnifax Ferry, joined him, and they together fell 
back to Big Sewell Mountain, where General R. E. Lee assumed com- 
mand over their combined forces. Meanwhile, Rosecrans, uniting my 
forces to his own, followed to the western ridge of Big Sewell Mountain, 
and both armies fortified positions and remained in presence until the 
storms of October broke up the roads, made them impassable for trains 
and forced Rosecrans to withdraw to the vicinity of Gauley Bridge. 

Floyd, v/ith a portion of Lee's command, kept up a desultory war- 
fare of posts for a time, but was driven from the vicinity on the 14th and 
15th November, and the troops were soon thereafter ordered into winter 
quarters, headquarters of the department being established at Wheeling. 

In the movement to Sewell Mountain, Rosecrans' command was 



The Army of West Virginia. 29 

organized into four brigades commanded by Brigadier-Generals Benham, 
Shenck and myself, and Colonel Robert L. McCook, of the 9th Ohio. 
Colonel E. P. Scammon, of the the 23d Ohio, also commanded a brigade 
temporarily, and Major R. B. Hayes, 23d Ohio, served temporarily as 
judge advocate of the department. 

During the winter Rosecrans was relieved and assigned to a command 
in Tennessee, and a new department called the Mountain Department 
was created, and Major-General Fremont put in command. The district 
of the Kanawha remained in my command as before. General Fremont 
concentrated most of his forces for a campaign in the Shenandoah Valley 
in the spring and summer of 1862; while with those left me I was ordered 
to make a co-operative movement forward. The troops under my orders 
not needed for garrison of posts, were divided into two. brigades by me, 
of which one, destined to operate by the north bank of New river, was 
put in command of Colonel George Crook, 36th Ohio, the other on the 
south bank of the river I commanded in person. Crook's column met a 
portion of the rebel army near Lewisburg and defeated them in a brilliant 
engagement. Mine advanced with slight opposition to the narrows of 
New river, near which, the columns by orders of General Fremont, were 
to unite. A strong Confederate force under Humphrey Marshall, how- 
ever, marched from the Holsten Valley, in rear of my command, striking 
my communications at Princeton. This necessitated a prompt movement 
to the rear. After a sharp engagement, Marshall was driven from Prince- 
ton, but on his attempting a still further flanking movement, we retreated 
to Flat Top Mountain, a position which covered all the country west of 
the mountains and was itself very strong. Meanwhile, Fremont had not 
met with success in the Shenandoah, and the enemy being at liberty to 
concentrate in one direction. Meadow Bluffs on Crook's line, and Flat 
Top Mountain on mine, were assumed as advanced posts in the Kanawha 
district, as far to the front as they could be provisioned by trains, being 
about fifty miles beyond Gauley Bridge. 

In August, 1862, General Pope having succeeded Fremont in com- 
mand of the department, now called that of Virginia, ordered me with 
two brigades to proceed to Washington by way of the Kanawha river, 
the Ohio to Parkersburg, and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Washing- 
ton. The movement was made with unprecedented speed. The two 
brigades were commanded by Colonel E. P. Scammon, 23d Ohio and 
Colonel A. Moor, 28th Ohio. A part of each brigade reached Washington 
in time to participate in the second battle of Bull Run, but by a break of 
Long Bridge, part were retained in the forts about Washington. 

On McClellan's resuming command of the Army of the Potomac, 



30 Proceedings of the Society of 

the Kanawha division was assigned to the 9th corps, Major-General Reno 
commanding, and took the advance of the right wing under Burnside. It 
was engaged in the batde of South Mountain, where Lieutenant-Colonel 
R. B. Hayes, 23d Ohio, was wounded, and the battle of Antietam, where 
Lieutenant-Colonel Melvin Clarke, 36th Ohio, of Marietta, among many- 
other valuable officers was killed. 

Colonel Moor having been captured in a cavalry melee at the entrance 
in Frederick City, Colonel Crook commanded the brigade at both South 
Mountain and Antietam. 

During the absence of the Kanawha division at the East, Colonel 
Lightburn, of one of the West Virginia regiments, was in command of 
that district, but simultaneously with the advance of Bragg's army toward 
the Ohio, the Confederate forces in West Virginia also advanced, and 
Lightburn was not strong enough to resist them. The Kanawha valley 
fell into their hands. 

In October the whole of West Virginia, with the river counties of 
Ohio, were constituted a military district, and having been made major- 
general, I was assigned to its command. Colonels Crook and Scammon 
were also promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. The old Kanawha 
division was moved from near Antietam to Clarksburg, thence to march 
under command of General Crook to Gauley Bridge, whilst I, in person, 
proceeded to Gallipolis, where, being joined by General George W. 
Morgan with a brigade, and having assembled the forces under Lightburn, 
we reentered the Kanawha Valley, and soon reoccupied the whole country 
up to the mountains, with very slight resistance. 

The district was now part of the department of the Ohio again, 
Major-General H. G. Wright commanding. In accordance with the con- 
stant policy of the government, the forces of the district were reduced as 
soon as the enemy was driven out ; General Morgan and his command 
going to the Southern Mississippi. The district was divided into two 
sub-districts under Major-General Milroy and Brigadier-General Crook, 
respectively, reporting to me at Marietta, where my headqua.rters were 
established for the winter. With the exception of slight guerrilla dis- 
turbances, quiet prevailed till the spring of 1863, when the district east of 
the Ohio was attached to the department of Major-General Schenck, then 
at Baltimore, and I was ordered to report to General Burnside, who was 
preparing for a movement into East Tennessee. This ended my personal 
connection with military affairs in West Virginia and my personal knowl- 
edge of its history. J. D. C. 



The Army of West Virginia. 31 

from jacob reasoner. 

Hamlin, Brown County, Kansas, 
September Gth, 1879. 

Major Jewett Palmer, Marietta, Ohio: 

Dear Old Friend — Your favor of the 20th ult. duly received. * ^^ 
Last year I heard something of a reunion at Marietta, and intended 
going, provided I could get any definite information. I did not know 
who to write to, and could learn of no reduction of rates on railroads, 
and finally let it pass, more for want of information than for any other 
reason. This morning I can't say what will be the result as to my going. 

* * * ''- * -'^ Will try and shape matters so as to be 
there. Would rejoice to take by the hand and look into the eyes of my 
old comrades with whom I labored, fought, mourned and rejoiced. 

I am now nearly forty-one years old, my beard sprinkled with grey, 
my step is not elastic. I begin to feel old, and I know the rest of the 
way is all down hill. I often wonder how the "boys" all look, what 
changes time has wrought in them. My album of army pictures is well 
preserved, and I frequenly turn to it. I find it always reflects the same 
true well-remembered faces, and for some reason — I cannot tell why — 
it does not give the same pleasure it once did. Their faces smiling, 
manly, unchangable — mine care-worn and changed; they arrayed in their 
" trotting harness," I in hickory-bark tugs, and I close it, pleased and yet 
sad. While I happen to think of it, I desire to call your attention to one 
thing, I always admired General Hayes, and five years ago, I named one 
of my sons for him. Last year a book agent was passing along, and 
among his books was a life of Rutherford B. Hayes, by J. Q. Howard. 
I bought it in order to refresh my memory of the old campaigns. On 
reading it I find one error that should, I think, be corrected. If it were 
a plaudit of "well done" to all, I would make no objection, but when 
names are used, they should be used correctly. On page forty-four, in 
the description of the battle of Opequan, General Hayes is given credit 
of being first across the slough, " Lieutenant Stearns, Adjutant 36th Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, was the next man." This statement is untrue. 
Stearns was not Adjutant, he was not with Hayes. I was Adjutant, and 
crossed beside him. His horse mired nearly midway of the slough. He 
waded over .and his high boots being full of water we both sat down 
upon a large rock, drew off our boots, poured out the water and hastened 
on. I think the sentence concerning " next man " should be corrected. 

* * =1:* * ** * Keep me posted as well as 



32 Proceedings of the Society of 

you can, and don't forget to address me at Hamlin. Give my kind 
regards to all the old comrades, and consider me 
Ever your friend, 

Jacob Reasoner. 



FROM WM. H. sterling. 

Plainfield, New Jersey, September \6th, 1879. 

General — I regret to have to inform you that our dearly beloved 
General, George B. McClellan, is now confined to his bed with a painful 
if not serious illness, and has directed me to reply to your kind invita- 
tion, expressing his sincere regrets at its inability to be with you all in 
person as he is in spirit. He begs to assure you his heart is with you, 
and desires me to tender his warmest thanks for the kind remembrance of 
the Society of the Army of West Virginia, and assure you that the warm 
feelings expressed are reciprocated. The time when he had the honor to 
command you will ever be a green spot in his memory. I am, General, 
with much respect, 

Sincerely yours, 

Wm. H. Sterling, 
To General B. D. Fearing, Aide-de-camp. 

Chairman Committee on Invitation, etc. 



General B. F. Coates was called to the chair at this 
point and committees appointed as follows: 

ON PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 

Colonel M. S. Hall, General W. H. Enochs, 

J. B. Morgan. 

TO NOMINATE OFFICERS. 

Captain F. C. Gibbs, Murray McMillan, 

H. C. Cherrington. 



The Army of West Virginia. 33 

TO SELECT TIME AND PLACE FOR THE NEXT 
MEETING. 

Colonel G. W. Taggart, J. M. Cross, 

Colonel John Paxton. 



After music the address of welcome was delivered by 
Colonel R. L. Nye. 

ADDRESS OF COLONEL NYE. 

Comrades of the Army of West Virginia:— The very pleasant 
duty assigned to me by the committee, of greeting you with some words 
of welcome, would be best performed if it were possible for .me to 
respond in fitting terms to the patriotic memories, and sentiments of 
soldierly friendship which have called you together. 

The great civil war, in which it was your fortune to take part, was 
not an accident. It was the result of wrong ideas, with respect to the 
structure of the government under the blessings of which we live; the 
necessary consequence of a false political education. Fortunately you 
were not of those who held these erroneous opinions. You had been 
taught to believe that the sacred instrument adopted by the fathers, was 
not made to form a mere chain of independent States, which a blow upon 
a single link might sever, but to build and hold together a Nation, of one 
people, worthy of your supreme political allegiance ; a country, to be 
loved, enjoyed, and faithfully served. 

It was this, which took you into the war ; it was this, which carried 
you through the war ; it was this, which prevailed by the war. And, if I 
mistake not, it is pardy this that has brought you here to-day. 

And I can assure you, that if there be any place in this beloved land 
of ours, (which God forbid), where the grand results of that terrible 
struggle, unity, nationality and impartial justice, are not heartily accepted 
or where they who fought to secure them are not welcome, it is not here. 
The precious contribution which this old county of Washington and these 
pioneer towns of the Ohio valley have made to the cause of liberty and 
union, pardy from your own ranks, will not permit me to speak a half- 
hearted greeting for them. They may not be able to receive you with 
costly decorations, in a gorgeous procession, nor to seat you at a sumptu- 



34 Proceedings of the Society of 

ous banquet; but such as they have they will give unto you; they will 
greet you with the more enduring testimonials of heartfelt gratitude for 
the noble services you gave, and unreserved approval of that which you 
wrought. 

May I not give equal assurance for you, that if there be persons who 
are disposed to falter in the maintenance of either of these great prin- 
ciples, they will not be found in the ranks of those who fought for the 
Union ? We trust also, that they may not be counted in large numbers 
even among those who, under misguiding counsels, sought to compass her 
destruction. But if this be not so, it is our duty now, as it was our privi- 
lege then, to '' stand to the colors," not as partisans but as patriots; and 
to see to it that the priceless edifice which our efforts helped to preserve, 
shall neith'er be destroyed nor defaced. 

The true soldier, in a just cause, knows no enmity. For a full, 
cordial and complete reconciliation the Union soldier was always ready ! 
and he is ready still. The darkest day of deadly strife did not see the 
hour when the returning rebel would not have been received with joyous 
hospitality in the camps of the Union. And now, after the battle has 
been lost and the victory won, surely the erring brother will be met at 
least half way, in any measures calculated to restore peace, harmony and 
good fellowship. But two conditions to an enduring peace and cordial 
fellowship must be required. No true reconciliation is possible except 
upon the basis of unquestioned nationality and universal and practical 
justice. 

It is a proper subject of pride and congratulation with you to-day, 
that one who shared with you the incidents of your service in the field, 
has been made the conspicuous instrument, not only of upholding with a 
firm hand all for which you fought, but at the same time, of manifesting 
that spirit of charity and good will which has always prevailed among you 
towards your brethren of the South. His patriotic and unpartisan con- 
duct in this regard, his measures of practical reform and honest adminis- 
tration in all departments of the government, his modest devotion, at all 
times, to the right for the sake of the right, have shown to all candid 
persons that Rutherford B. Hayes is not the mere head of a party, but the 
President of the Nation. And this is just Avhat you who knew him, had 
reason to expect of him. 

My comrades : Fourteen years have come and gone since we put off 
the blue uniforms and laid aside the arms we carried through that terrible 
war. Some of these years, like those of the war itself, have been years 
of adversity and of gloom. It has been our lot to live in a trying period 
of our country's history. To each of us these years of our separation 



The Army of West Virginia. 35 

have brought his share of joy and of sorrow ; to all they have been 
filled with the cares and responsibilities of life. And these have no doubt 
crowded aside, in great measure, the associations of that time of war, 
when we knew each other so well. But now, as we trust, in the dawn of 
a returning prosperity to the country we tried to serve, we meet once 
more, to take each other by the hand, to live over again, for a day, the 
old army life, to revive its hallowed memories, and above all, to remem- 
ber and to honor those, sleeping perhaps on yonder mountain-side, who 
came not back with us from the war. Shall we ever forget those, of 
blessed memory, who marched with us the weary day, who gathered with /> 
us about the camp-fire, and shared with us the old army blanket, as 
"nightly we pitched our roving tents," from the clear waters of New 
River to the banks of the Shenandoah ? 

What kind of friendships are formed by the touch of shoulder to 
shoulder in front of a determined foe, and in the service of a cause that 
is just, none but the soldier can know, though for a soldier is hard to say. 
Born of that mutual trust and dependence which springs from common 
perils and hardships, they are controlled by no differences of rank or 
position. 

The presence here of the distinguished officer under whose command 
it was your good fortune to serve, and at whose instance this meeting 
was in great part arranged^ attests that the honors so justly conferred 
upon him have not dimmed the ardor of his attachment to the volunteers 
he used to lead. 

He has given many other evidences of his interest in those who fol- 
lowed his skillful leadership during the civil war, and I am sure there are 
none of the Army of West Virginia to whom the name of George Crook 
will not always be a welcome sound. 

His arduous devotion to the thorough discharge of duty, and his 
cheerful readiness to endure with his command all that he required of 
them, to which we can testify, and the more difficult and perilous service 
since performed, have fully merited the promotions which his country 
has bestowed. 

I cannot undertake to express the pleasure it gives us to meet him 
to-day. 

And while it is my inestimable privilege to greet you all most 
cordially, I know that you will agree with me that we take peculiar 
pleasure in the presence of a certain delegation of your number. For 
years before the war the mountain-tops of Western Virginia were lighted 
here and there with the fires of freedom. The soil of that mountain 
region was never meant to be tilled by any but a free people ; nor was the 



36 Proceedings of the Society of 

patriotic spirit which there happily abounded, content to be confined to 
the limits of a single commonwealth, of howsoever proud and venerable 
ancestry. And so it was that when Sumter's gun told of the deadly 
attack upon the nation which their fathers had done so much to found, 
there assembled from the hills and valleys of that region, hosts of valiant 
sons for her defense. And it was most fitting that one of the early 
results of the struggle which followed should be the birth of a new State, 
the first reclaimed to liberty. Over all the appeals to State and ancestral 
pride, over all the cherished family ties and in the face of a powerful local 
prejudice, the patriotism of her sons prevailed, and the new State in Virginia, 
with the proud motto of freedom inscribed upon her banner, was added 
to the Union, a most valuable equivalent for the old, which had so cause- 
lessly gone. And it was also fitting that, greatly under the inspiration 
and direction of an Ohio governor and an Indiana governor, the sons of 
Ohio and of Indiana, should march promptly to her protection. The 
consequence was that the new born State sent to the National army nearly 
thirty-three thousand of as good soldiers as ever stepped to the music of 
the Union ; soldiers by whose side you were glad to stand when battle 
opened; and commanders too, whom you were proud to follow. Justice 
requires me to add that the efficiency of those troops was not impaired by 
the presence of goodly numbers of " Ohio men," who helped to fill their 
ranks. We remember something of what it cost many of these sons of 
Virginia to follow their country's flag. They came amid the jeers and 
scoffs of old friends and neighbors, sometimes by the light of the torch 
which fired their own dwellings ; and they often returned to find their 
land desolate and their homes in ashes. To any of these who may be 
here we extend an unfeigned welcome. 

And now, my comrades, you will have to consider to-day the best 
means of preserving your war memories, and how best to collect and 
record the facts of your history as an army. 

Doubtless you have something of a duty to perform in this way. 
Other corps have given considerable attention to such things, and have 
collected and put in durable form records which it would be impossible 
for those not witnesses of the occurrence* to make. In the achievements 
of these corps we have a just pride. Their victories are our victories; 
their defeats are our defeats. In their successes we rejoice ; in our failures 
they have no cause for shame. 

From Scarey to Cedar Creek — and through Cedar Creek — the record 
of this army was one of modest but gallant devotion to hard and perilous 
duty. 

The importance of West Virginia as a field for military operations 



The Army of West Virginia. 37 

was seen at once, and while a sentimental neutrality which prevailed in 
some quarters, threatened for a time the safety of the Ohio border, thanks 
to the activity of the people of the border, to whom neutrality was a 
perilous folly, the influence of the State governments of Ohio and 
Indiana was brought to bear and the danger averted. 

The Confederacy speedily threw into the mountains some of her 
best troops, under her most skillful officers; but the Ohio and Indiana 
boys were there to meet them, and, chiefly under the skill and energy of 
one of your first great commanders, Wm. S. Rosecrans, the first victories 
of the war which cheered the panting heart of the country, were sounded 
from the Alleghanys. The menacing rebel force was driven east of the 
mountains, and, owing to the continued presence and watchfulness of 
this army, the Ohio valley never saw the war except at one or two points 
in the flying visits of John Morgan and his men. 

The service you had to perform was a hard one, involving tedious 
and often unfruitful marches through a difficult region, often with a scant 
supply and with the annoyance of an inglorious guerilla warfare. This 
wearisome service of yours is for the most part unknown except to your- 
selves. But ask Crook what a portion of this army did at Lewisburg and 
at Cloyd Mountain; ask Cox how the old Kanawha Division behaved at 
South Mountain and Antietam ; ask Sheridan where the Army of West 
Virginia was at Opequan, at Fisher's Hill and all through that great high- 
way of battle — the Shenandoah valley ; ask Rosecrans what the Turchin 
Brigade did on Chickamauga's bloody field, or Grant as to her behavior 
in the grand assault on Mission Ridge, under the great Thomas; and ask 
Sherman as to the conduct of the Lightburn Brigade from Vicksburg to 
Atlanta, and from Adanta to the sea. 

Whenever called to such service as this the troops of your corps 
showed a metal of which they have no reason to be ashamed. 

It is due to you and to your children, as well as to the country, that 
this record be preserved. 

We may, however, expect that, although the abundance of pride we 
used to have in regiment, corps and army, served a most useful purpose, 
and was not to be thought lightly of, the years as they go by and carry us 
farther away from the great and exciting events of which we were wit- 
nesses, will enable us to take a more general view of the war itself and to 
form a juster estimate of the part we had in it; that hereafter we shall not 
think so much about the particular regiment or corps with which we 
happened to serve — between which there was not so much difference after 
all — but more of those who stood — and those who fell — by our side, of 
the great principles upon which the war was fought, and of its grand 
results. 



38 Proceedings of the Society of 

Shall we be able to honor our dead comrades more than by honoring 
the cause in which they fought? 

Not by massive monuments, nor by mere laudatory speech shall we 
honor them; but rather by living, each for himself, the life of a just and 
patriotic citizen, with a firm trust that there is a God above, and a faithful 
people in the land. 

In the words of the last, immortal victim of that unnatural war — 

" It is for us, the living, to be dedicated to the unfinished work they 
so nobly carried on. It is for us to be dedicated to the great task remain- 
ing before us, that from those honored dead we take increased devotion 
to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion ; tha^ 
we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ; that 
the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom; and that the 
government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not 
perish from the earth." 

General W. H. Enochs was called to respond, which 
he did in a brief and pleasant manner. He spoke of the 
heroic deeds of the Army of West Virginia at Cloyd 
Mountain, Carter Farm, Opequan, Fisher's Hill, and other 
hard fought battles. He thought that no more gallant 
deeds were performed by any army than by the Army of 
West Virginia. 

Governor Dennison being present, was called upon and 
made a short but interesting address, expressing his gratifi- 
cation in meeting with so many of the survivors of the 
Arm}^ of West Virginia, and warmly congratulating them 
on the valuable services they and their gallant comrades 
rendered the country. He referred to the organization of 
West Virginia as a State, and his connection as governor 
of Ohio with that interesting event, and related some 
entertaining incidents of the time. The governor closed 
with a reference to the patriotic history of Marietta. 

General Hickenlooper, of the 5th Ohio Light Artillery, 
was called for and made a few brief and patriotic remarks. 

General Crook was called for, and on coming forward 
he said that on occasions of this kind, he was sorry that he 



The Army of West Virginia. 39 

had spent so much of his time on the frontier, as it had 
made it impossible for him to express his feelings before 
such a gathering. He was greeted with tremendous ap- 
plause. 

The morning session then adjourned. 



AFTERNOON. 

The society was called to order by the chairman at 
two o'clock. 

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. 

Colonel M. S. Hall, chairman of the committee on 
permanent organization, reported the Constitution and 
By-Laws adopted at Wheeling, October 20, 1871, and by 
resolution the report was adopted. 

The committee on time and place of next meeting, 
through Colonel Geo. W. Taggart, chairman, reported in 
favor of Parkersburg, West Virginia, as the place, and 
September 22d, 1880, as the time. On motion this report 
was adopted. 

Captain F. C. Gibbs, from the committee on nomina- 
tion of oflScers, made the following report: 

FOR OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 



PRESIDENT. 

General George Crook 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Colonel G. W. Taggart, General B. F. Coates, 

Major Jewett Palmer. 

RECORDING SECRETARY. 

General W. H. Enochs. 



40 Proceedings of the Society of 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. 

General R. P. Kennedy. 

TREASURER. 

Captain R. B. Taylor. 

General Enochs declined; stating that he was a law- 
yer and could not write, and nominated Captain Charles 
B. Smith, of Parkersburg, who was elected. 

General Kennedy declined, and nominated General 
Enochs, who was elected unanimously. 

The committee's report, as so amended, was thereupon 
adopted, and the officers elected accordingly. 

Colonel R. L. N3^e, Colonel Geo. W. Taggart and 
Colonel M. S. Hall were appointed to select an orator for 
next year. 

General R. P. Kennedy was then introduced as orator 
of the day, and delivered the following eloquent and 
patriotic address: 



ADDRESS OF GENERAL KENNEDY. 

My Fellow Soldiers and Fellow Citizens : — Some one has beauti- 
fully said that a "great artist who desired to embody his idea of '■ thought ' 
in the solid marble, so that it should carry the name and fame of his 
genius down through the centuries, selected for his subject not the states- 
man, building the structure of the republic upon the ruins of parties and 
empires; not the philosopher, calmly reasoning from the garnered wisdom 
of the past ; nor yet the alchemist, taking from nature what she has, and 
making from nature what she never had before ; but rather the soldier, 
his sword sheathed, his helmet laid aside, his banner furled, calmly con- 
templating the liberty and peace his arms had won." Why not? In 
every age and every clime he has been the central figure of history ; the 
eloquence of Peter the Hermit would have availed little without the 
soldiery bearing of Lorraine and Tancred. 



The Army ok West Virginia. 41 

The fiery enthusiasm of Luther, and the eloquence of Melancthon 
would have borne little fruit without further aid from the sword of William 
the Silent. 

The impassioned appeals of Philip of Mornay, for religious liberty, 
would have been lost upon the winds but for the plume of Navarre. 

The counsel of John of Barneveld would have been weakness itself 
without the sword of Prince Maurice. 

The earnestness of Patrick Henry, and the boldness of Adams, still 
required the death of Warren and the grandeur of Washington. 

The prudence of Seward and the wisdom of Lincoln needed the aid 
and perseverance of Grant and the dash of Phil. Sheridan. 

So through every age and every clime we see grand forms like 
William the Silent, and Coligny, and Washington, standing like mighty 
mile stones of the centuries, pointing the way for the advancing progress 
of civil and religious liberty. 

The soldier who battles in a righteous cause, who wages war, not 
for power and oppression, but for liberty of person, of conscience, and 
of mankind, is doing that which tends not alone to his personal glory, 
but adds to the sum of human happiness, and leaves the world the better 
for his having lived in it. 

It is true every soldier may not have achieved the fullest measure of 
human greatness, but he has done his part well who has performed the 
duty falling to his lot, and has failed in nothing which came within the 
grasp of his opportunities. 

The homage paid the great and successful General is after all but 
praise and plaudit for the soldiers whose valor and devation won his vic- 
tories. To-day every loyal heart in the nation thrills with pride, and 
every soldier feels a sense of personal exaltation as he sees every civilized 
nation on the face of the globe doing honor to our most distinguished 
citizen, and our greatest soldier, than whom none so fully represents the 
citizen soldier of America, as the silent man of the century, Ulysses S. 
Grant. 

But this is a day of peace, not of war ; an hour of tender memories, 
not one stirred by the sound of battles. The years go by, and farther 
and farther off we hear the sound of the receding conflict. We are fast 
losing the personal histories of the war, and slowly but surely it is taking 
its place, marked only by its great battles, its great conflicts, its great 
leaders, upon the pages of an eternal and never ending history. 

The young men who took part in it are growing old ; the old men 
who survived it are passing away ; the stories of the camp, the field and the 
battle are told at fewer firesides by old veterans, and the locks of younger 



42 . Proceedings of the Society of 

heroes are turning grey; but a few years and the roll call of death will 
leave but a scattered remnant of the grandest army that ever battled for 
human liberty. 

Theirs was a battle not for aggrandizement and power, not for sub- 
jugation and conquest, but for the preservation of the liberties of a race, 
and though the conflict was long and fierce, and determined, and often 
doubtful, the end was then as it must always be, a triumph of liberty over 
anarchy, of law and order over dissension and strife. When the gate- 
ways of the future shall have received the last remnant of that shattered 
army, and the final roll call shall have been answered by the veterans of 
three hundred battles, there will still remain the memory of their devotion 
and valor ; there will still remain the peace and security won by their 
arms ; there will still remain the Nation preserved by their lives, and the 
liberty made sacred by their deaths. Every battle field that was trampled 
by the contending armies is but one of the mile-stones of the century to 
mark the advancing progress of liberty. Every camp that was whitened 
by the tents of your patriot soldiery is but a landmark that witnesses the 
devotion and the valor of your sons. Every patriot grave that grows 
green under the burning suns of the South is but the fire that in after 
ages will light up and enkindle the flame of patriotism in every loyal 
heart of the land. 

When the clouds of a threatened danger overshadowed your land, and 
the bursting storm of war rolled with fearful menace along your borders, 
the hearts of your sons, and the spirit of your daughters, inspired by a 
ove of home, by devotion to country and to liberty, came from firesides 
unused to danger, from homes unused to peril, and with quivering lip 
and tearful eyes, looked back, but for a moment, to signal a farewell, or 
to wave a good-by, as they went forth into the contest that was to end only 
in the destruction of the nation or the preservation of its unity. 

It was not a struggle for conquest and power, but the determined 
effort of a people to preserve their nation, and to maintain its liberty. 

The struggle was long continued, and often desperate, but there was 
neither sign of faltering nor want of purpose. 

From a nation of freemen unused to war and battles, we had become 
a nation whose most familiar weapon was the bayonet, and whose battle- 
fields were the meeting places of giant armies, contending for the 
mastery. On one side it was caste and prejudice seeking to en- 
slave itself and keep others enslaved; on the other it was an en- 
lightened and detentiined intelligence that was striving to preserve 
its freedom, and to make broader and freer the liberty intended for 
all mankind. On the one side it was ignorance and prejudice striving 



The Army of West Virginia. 43 

to retain the mastery of the century ; on the other it was the enhghtened 
inteUigence of a new era striving to burst from the chains and fetters 
which had been holding it captive, so that its hght might shine over all 
the earth. The end of the contest was then, as it must always be, 
a triumph of liberty over slavery, of intelligence over ignorance and 
prejudice. 

Death was to follow that the nation might live, oppresion that the 
people might have liberty, and war that the people might have peace. 

Then came old men, heroes of other wars, grey-haired veterans, who 
had heard from their fathers the story of the nation's birth. Then came 
the stripling, tender in years, but full of hope and promise, who bore 
with him the tender imprint of a sister's kiss, and the prayers and memory 
of a mother's love. From every fireside, from every home, from the 
humblest to the highest, came men who were ready to throw themselves 
into the contest, determined that the experiment of human freedom, 
planted and watered in the wilderness, and grown to a tree whose branches 
overshadowed the people of all the land, should not be cut down and 
destroyed without a struggle for its defense. 

Every heart made an offering ; the mother sent her fair-haired boy, 
and in the quiet of her closet, upon bended knees, consecrated him with 
prayers and tears to her God and her country. The sister sent a brother, and 
gave him, as he left, the tender pledge of a sister's love. The grey-haired 
father sent a son, and with bowed head and bursting heart sent after him 
the blessing he could not speak. The wife gave a husband, and crowd- 
ing back her sobs and tears, bid him "God speed," as together they 
kissed the sleeping little ones, only to burst into an agony of grief as she 
saw him go out df sight forever. It was the parting at firesides never to 
be reunited. It was the breaking of households never again to be 
joined. The wife who had given her all, was to put on the darkness 
of mourning. The mother, who had made an offering of her eldest as 
well as her youngest, was to greet them only in the paleness of death. 
The maiden whose lover had gone forth with the promise of return, was 
to be widowed at heart before she had kneh at the altar a bride. 

"And I saw a phantom army come, 
With never a sound of fife or drum, 
But keeping time to a throbbing hum 

Of wailing and lamentation. 
The martyred heroes of Malvern Hill, 
Of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville, 
The men whose wasted figures fill 
The patriot graves of the nation. 



44 Proceedings of the Society of 

"And there came the nameless dead — the men 
Who perished in fever, swamp and fen — 
The slowly starved of the prison pen ; 

And marching beside the others 
Came the dusky martyrs of Pillow's fight, 
With limbs enfranchised and bearing bright, 
I thought, perhaps 't was the pale moonlight, 
They looked as white as their brothers. 

"And so all night the nation's dead, 
With never a banner over them spread, 
Nor a badge, nor a motto brandished, 
No mark save the bare uncovered head 

Of the silent bronze Reviewer. 
With never an arch save the vaulted sky. 
With never a flower save those that lie 
On the distant graves^-for love could buy 
No gift that was purer or truer." 

I would that I could call back to-day, so that it might pass in grand 
review before you, that army with its ranks filled, its lines of battle 
unbroken, its columns reformed, the graves of every battle field emptied 
of their patriot dead, the foul prison pens with their gates standing wide 
open, the dead of the hospital, and the fever stricken thousands who lie 
buried under the burning suns of the South, and as they moved in grand 
procession before you, I would point to their wounds, to their scars, to 
their blistered feet, to their haggard faces and starved bodies, that told of 
Andersonville and Belle Isle, and I would ask you, have these men died 
in vain ? Is the liberty which was purchased at such a cost but an idle 
boast, and a liberty only in name ? Is the nation that cost all this sacri- 
fice, all this blood, all these tears, standing after all upon a foundation of 
sand? Is treason to be regarded with as much favor as loyalty? Are 
you to strew flowers with equal love and tenderness upon the grave of 
one who battled for the destruction of your nation as upon the 
grave of one who died for its preservation? Can you hold in the 
same kindly remembrance the dead rebel and the dead patriot ? Can 
you forget the long years of suffering, years of suspense, when you saw 
your country hanging in the balance and the lives of your bravest and 
best offered as a sacrifice for its salvation ? Can you forget the boy 
that went out from your fireside and never came back again ? When 
you can do this, liberty will have lost its glory, and your nation will 
have lost its liberty. 

While I am ready to forgive our enemies, I do not think we are called 
upon either directly, or indirectly, to recognize or honor the cause for 



The Army of West Virginia. 45 

which they fought; it is enough that we are ready to extend the hand of 
friendship, and to cover with the mantle of charity and forgetfulness 
the crimes of the past. 

To me the boy in blue will ever be dearer than the boy in gray. I 
cannot forget that the one was battling for the liberty of a nation, and 
that his blood preserved it; and that the other was seeking to tear down 
and destroy that nation and to rob it of its liberties; that the one gave his 
life that a great nation might live and its liberty be transmitted to genera, 
tions unborn ; that the other died seeking to rivet the chains of human 
bondage, and to blot from the face of the earth a nation dedicated to 
human liberty. You may strew your roses where you will, but as for me, 
I shall plant no roses upon the grave of a dead rebel! I tvill put mine only 
upon the grave of the boy in blue. 

Benedict Arnold would have sold his country, and his name goes 
down through the centuries loaded with infamy. Jefferson Davis would 
have destroyed his country, and history will put his name side by side with 
that of Benedict Arnold. Treason can never outrival loyalty. The one 
represents all that is bad and dangerous in society, the other represents 
the strength and security of the nation. One gathers into its fold the 
wicked and the dangerous, the other marshals under its banners the 
hosts who believe in the virtue, the purity, the intelligence and the free- 
dom of the people. When the name of every rebel leader shall have 
been forgotten, or be remembered only for his crimes, the names of the 
great loyalists who, from the beginning of the government to this hour 
have by their labors and lives, added to its greatness, will be growing 
greater and greater. When Lee, and Beauregard, and Toombs, and Davis 
will be remembered only that they may be pointed out as the leaders of 
a great crime, so that the children of the centuries to come may not follow 
their examples, the names of Washington and Lincoln, of Grant and Phil 
Sheridan, of Sherman and McPherson, of Hayes and Crook, of Mans- 
field and Thomas, will be handed down from century to century, crowned 
with the garlands of a greatful people's remembrance. 

To me patriotism means something— disloyalty means something. \\\ 
the one, I see the fidelity that clings with a devotion that courts death and 
scorns life, to the liberty that God has given us, to the nation that was 
founded that all might be free ; in the other I see the madness that would 
drive to destruction a people whose only hope of safety is in the broad 
sunlight of universal liberty. In the one, I see the strength that comes of 
unity, and that would build upon the strong foundations of the republic a 
temple dedicated to the freedom of all mankind; in the other I see the 
weakness that would follow division and strife, the dangers that would 



46 Proceedings of the Society of 

surround a divided and broken household. In the one, I see law and 
order, walking hand in hand, giving security and peace; in the other I 
see anarchy and ruin, twin sisters of destruction, stalking over the dead 
and prostrate form of liberty. 

We may be more than human, and may forgive the prodigal who 
comes in sackcloth, and repentant; but is it not asking too much that we 
shall take back the prodigal and clothe him in the best robe, who comes 
boasting of his prodigality, and assuming the role of the injured and inso- 
lent master, instead of a repentant son ? We may be pardoned if smart- 
ing from the wounds and injuries we have received at his hands, we some- 
times think that the diet of husks should have continued to repentance, or 
that the bayonets and balls of our armies should have scourged him back 
to a loyalty that would have been neither doubtful nor hesitating. When 
we look over the nation and find disloyalty rampant, and treason not 
crushed, but seemingly triumphant, we may for a moment doubt the just- 
ness of our cause; but "though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind 
exceeding small." Liberty will not perish; at the proper hour, guided 
by a hand omnipotent, the gateways to national safety will open, dis- 
closing the pathway to national pro.sperty, to power, to peace, and to 
universal liberty. 

We may look back and see the rock of slavery, upon which the 
vessel of the republic was likely to be dashed to pieces, but in the very 
storm itself the rock of danger disappeared, and the morning sunlight 
showed only the bow of promise ! We may see the dark hours when every 
loyal heart in the nation was despondent, when it seemed as if the final 
overthrow was near ; it was but the darkness that preceeded the morning 
that was to give to America universal liberty. 

But we are told that we must forget the past, that we must " let our 
dead past bury its dead " — that these anniversaries but serve to embitter 
the hearts of the living. 

One of the grandest sentences in the English language, one that 
deserves to become, like the fame of its author, immortal ; one that 
speaks volumes of love and charity, is that of the martyred Lincoln: 

"WITH malice toward NONE, WITH CHARITY FOR ALL." 

It is the brave who can afford to be generous. It is the conqueror 
who shows mercy to his fallen foe, that has won a double victory. 

While we are ready to forgive our enemies, we are not ready to 
recognize their errors as virtues, nor to hail as martyrs and patriots the 
men who strove to tear down and ..destroy our liberties ; neither are we 



The Army of West Virginia. 47 

ready to forget the great principles for which we sacrificed so much, nor 
the men, whether living or dead, who were true to our country when she 
needed defenders; nor yet can we forget the past. Czxv you forget the 
story of your marches and sieges ? Can you blot out from your memory 
the years that are endeared to you by reason of their dangers, or the 
memories of your dead comrades ? Can you in a moment forget your 
long years of batde, years of suspense, when you saw your country hang- 
ing in the balance and the lives of your bravest and best offered as a 
sacrifice for its salvation ? Can you forget the heroic devotion of that 
army of martyred dead, which neither hesitated nor halted until chal- 
lenged by the sentinel Death? Can you forget the tender love that, 
while it clings tp you with a wife's or sister's, or mother's devotion, would 
have blushed with shame to see you falter in your duty to your country? 

There is no need to forget the past. Its hallowed memories are 
implanted in our hearts and serve to make dearer to us the nation for 
which our comrades fell, the liberty for which they perished. 

But while we meet here this day, let us not forget that silent army, 
whose tents are folded, whose flags are furled, whose arms are stacked, 
whose battles are over, and who " fought where they fell, and fell where 
they fought;" who have answered the challenge of death with the pass- 
word of eternity, and who ever quietly sleep on those far off battle fields. 

" In that low, green tent 
Whose curtain never outward swings." 

Then we recall that long and fearful struggle, as year after year 
passed away, and the end seemed to us no nearer than in the beginning; 
batde succeeded battle ; campaign followed campaign ; army after army 
was swept away by the never-failing and ever-attending monster, Death. 
Households were made desolate, fire-sides were thrown into the shadow 
of mourning; the shouts of the victors were mingled with cries of the 
wounded, and with the sound of the battle came the moan of the widow 
and the tears of the orphan. Then every sister lost a brother, every 
father lost a son, every sweetheart lost a lover, every mother lost a boy 
whose image was graven upon her heart. 

We remember with what painful emotion the news of battle was 
received in those times that not only tried men's, but tried women's souls 
as well. What of the dead ? What of the wounded ? What of the 
living ? It was the bated breath that made the inquiry, it was the f^^inting 
heart and the trembling soul that waited for the response ; and who can 
tell the anguish of the stricken heart that too frequently had builded its 
hopes of safety only to have them dashed down to despair. ^Vho can 



48 Proceedings of the Society of 

tell the depths of a sister's love, that had hoped against hope, and had 
vainly endeavored to persuade herself that the evil hour would never 
come; who can tell the measure of a mother's boundless love, hearing 
the story of the death of her son, and with a smile of joy that shines 
through her tears, she is thankful at least to know that he has died as her 
boy should die, and hiding her broken heart from the world, she goes to 
her closet, and there she pours it out in one sublime, and grand, and 
trusting prayer that goes to the Comforter that sustains the widowed and 
orphaned, and gives peace to the stricken and childless heart. 

The war was over. 

From three hundred battle fields the men who had rescued the 
nation from peril, and whose deeds are of record in letters of fire and of 
blood, are coming home to lay aside the implements of war and follow the 
pleasanter paths of peace; they come with banners all torn and tattered, 
covered all over with the record of their battles and their contests. 

The ranks are thin and scattered ; they have left their bravest and 
best upon the far off battle fields of the nation. Never before did vic- 
torious armies so quietly lay down their arms — the men who had studied 
the art of warfare in the Virginias and the Carolinas, who had seen the 
dangers and the terrors of battle, came back to look for the peace their 
arms and valor had won. The hand that had held the musket now 
grasped the plow ; the trooper who had, without fear of death, led the 
charge, went back to his anvil ; the soldier whose courage had so aided 
in the hour of victory put on the livery of peace. It was the triumph of 
liberty over anarchy ; it was the triumphs of intelligence and progress, 
over dissension and strife ; at every fireside sits a hero — at every hearth- 
stone the stories of the field, the camp and the battle are told. 

You would scarcely be able to look over this vast but peaceful assem- 
blage and pick out its warriors, and yet there are here to-day the heroes of 
more than three hundred battles. 

What grand figures stand out from these oldbatde fields! Yonder you 
can see the form of McPherson, with a smile upon his lips, as he goes 
down to battle and death. There, amidst the clouds is Hooker. Here is 
Thomas, the grandest in form, as he was the grandest in character and 
action, whose whole life was the continued ripening of its early promise. 
There white-haired old Mansfield, splendid old soldier of the republic, 
whose wish to die upon the battle field, with his harness on, found its 
fulfillment at Antietam. Yonder at Winchester is George Crook, quiet, 
preservering, determined, fighting for the victory his valor must win. 
There, dashing down the valley, we still see Phil Sheridan, grand soldier 
that he was, riding to the field of victory, and with whip and boot and 
spur, dashing on to immortal fame. 



The Army of West Virginia. 49 

And on these storm-beaten, shot-plowed fields, the quiet thousands 
who went to death unfalteringly, leaving behind the memory of a name, 
and the record of a duty done ; grand heroes whose battles are over, and 
who have answered tha challenge of death with the pass-word of eternity. 

We may challenge history to produce if it can such examples of 
devotion and patriotism. 

I think I do no injustice to the living, and no wrong to the dead, 
when I say there is one name about which the hearts of a loyal people 
cling with a love and tenderness that has no equal ; one name that, so 
long as history endures, will remain radiant with light and liberty; one 
name that will go down the pathway of fame, leaving at every turning 
point the light of its genius, and the spirit of its love and tenderness; one 
name that, in after ages will be the light that beams upon, and the finger 
that points the road to liberty ; the name that to our children will be the 
synonym for all that was good and great in mankind. 

Here and there we see rising through the century grand forms like 
Washington, and Warren, and Thomas, and McPherson, wonderful 
examples of heroic devotion to country and to duty. But there is one 
name, perhaps, more closely akin to us, because of our day and genera- 
tion, that lights up the fire of the eye, and enkindles the warmth of the 
heart, and that will remain throughout all time as the purest example 
of the christian statesman, the firm friend, the true patriot, and the 
honest man against whom the breath of slander and the darts of envy 
were sent in vain, the name of the mechanic, the laborer, the lawyer, the 
scholar, the statesman, and the man — Abrahatn Lincoln. 

No name will ever rival his in the history of the cwmtry, because 
never again will such an opportunity arise to call forth from tlie people 
such a man. 

He was a man of firmness and yet his firmness was always tempered 
with mercy. 

Quick in action and yet slow enough to do justice to all mankind, 
he was endowed with wisdom to grasp the measure of the age, and to 
mete out upon every hand the full measure of equal and exact justice. 
No principle too great for him to grasp. No appeal too small to receive 
his earnest consideration. 

We find him always the grand statesman, the prudent chief magis- 
trate, the honest man. He has given us the example of some of the 
greatest actions and left us some of the noblest sentences in the English 
language. 

When the centuries shall go by, his name and fame made dear and 
sacred by his martyred death, will be revered as that of no other Ameri- 
can. 



50 Proceedings of the Society of 

But what of our patriot dead ? Do you read cold marble to learn 
their histories? It cannot tell you how, in the midst of conflict, their 
hves went out ; it cannot tell you how, in the heat of battle, with their 
last thoughts of home, and a tender prayer for loved ones, the spirits of 
these brothers, and husbands and sons took their immortal flights; it can- 
not tell you how, in the hospital, suffering from sickness and wounds, 
with patient tenderness they slowly passed from the battles of life to the 
eternal camping grounds beyond ; it cannot tell you how, in prison pens 
starved and fevered, slowly but surely they moved down to the dead- 
line of fitful and persistent fate; it cannot tell you how, in the last 
moments of hfe, their thoughts turned to the wives and little ones from 
whom they had parted in the flush of manhood. Cold and whitened 
stones can tell no stories of war and battles, can give no histories of valor 
and devotion. Such memories are to the living. They come like the 
tender falling of the leaves in autumn to the memory through the years 
gone by ; we see again the smoke of the battle, we hear again the roar 
of the artillery, the clash of arms ; again we see the embattling hosts in 
the midst of the clouds on Lookout ; again we see the faltering, struggling 
lines at Gettysburg ; again we see slowly moving columns at Peach-tree 
Creek ; again we hear the shout of victory along the lines at Atlanta ; 
again we see the flash of the bayonets in the winter sunlight as they move 
up the hill at Nashville ; again we see the boys in blue, grand old 
veterans of a hundred battles, 

— " the men who charged heavenward 

as if grim Mission Ridge 

With its arches of fire were the piers of a bridge 

Somebody has built to the gates of the sky, 

And they were bound to go up without waiting to die." 

At the reunion of my old regiment, the 23d Ohio, I saw standing 
on the corner of the platform, the old banner of the regiment, all torn 
and tattered ; every stripe was covered with the record of its contests and 
battles; every star was flashing with a victory; never but once did it bow 
its proud head in the dust to the foe — at the battle of Antietam, after it 
had gone over moor and fen, plowed fields and fallow, in the front rank 
of the peril, the old flag went down ; the ball that struck its standard 
pierced the standard bearer to the heart, and he fell wrapped in the folds 
of the banner he had loved and borne so well ; it was literally baptized 
in his blood. You could not sell its tattered remnants in a junk shop for 
a farthing, and yet you could not buy its glory and history for miUions 
and millions of money. 



The Army of West Virginia. 61 

To you, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, whose silent sleepers are 
upon the far distant battle-fields of the nation, is all this sacrifice in vain ? 
Is liberty nothing, is hope nothing ; shall we count only our loss, and not 
the great gain and good of mankind ? 

The price of liberty must be paid in the blood of her patriot sons ; 
the measure of her worth must be in the lives of her dearest kindred. " I 
have only one regret," said Nathan Hale, " and that is, that I have but 
one hfe to offer for my country." 

You have made a grand sacrifice ; your offering has been laid upon 
the altar of a common country; your firesides have been left desolate; 
your hearthstones have been thrown into the shadow of mourning ; your 
bravest and tenderest have been taken that this nation might be dedicated 
to human liberty forever. 

Can you forget them ? Shall we put away forever the memories of 
the war ? Shall we permit to sink into forgetfulness their deeds of valor 
and their acts of heroism ? Shall the grass that grows over them grow 
so rank that it may hide from sight, and from memory, their last resting 
places ? 

When liberty is not worth the purchase, when the human heart for- 
gets its tenderness, when the mother's love grows cold, when the sister's 
devotion is no longer known, then we may forget them. 

But so long as history tells its story ; so long as fireside chronicles are 
repeated: so long as there shall remain man's admiration for deeds of 
arms, and love of country, and so long as woman's matchless love endures, 
these stories will be told at the firesides, at the camp and in the house- 
holds, and will grow brighter and brighter as the years go by. 

The boy that went out with a glad "good-bye," and whose lonely 
grave is to-day without a single flower on the far off battle field has a 
tender spot in the hearts at home. 

The quiet sleeper in the Virginias, or the Carolinas, is marshaling a 
host of tears at many a fireside to-day. 

So you, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers : Can you blot from 
yqu memories the story of the boy that left your fireside and came not 
back again? Can you forget the story of his death, and his last sad 
message, which even in the fast fleeting moments of life he had not for- 
gotten to send you? Can you hide away his old musket, which through 
years of camp and battle, was his constant and faithful companion ? Can 
you put from your sight forever the blue coat, torn, tattered, it may 
be, made sacred by the baptism of his blood ? Can you tear up and 
consign to the flames the letters, not very neat it may be, for they were 
written on a drum head, which he sent you from his camps in the Virginias 



52 Proceedings of the Society op 

cr the Carolinas? Can you forget the noble promise he made you at 
parting, and from which he never faltered — a promise he sealed with his 
blood — to be true to his God and his country ? Can you forget the 
prayers you offered when you had listened to the story of his death, and 
with Christian resignation had bowed to the will of Him who sees even 
the sparrows fall, and in hope of a meeting hereafter, can you not say : 

" E'en for the dead I will not bind 

My soul to grief — death cannot long divide, 
For is it not as if the rose had climbed 

My garden wall, had bloomed the other side ?" 

Can you indeed pluck from your heart the tender love you bore 
him? Until you can do this, there will still be memories of the past, 
memories that will make us tenderer, and truer, and better, that will 
teach us the value of life, and the beauty of death. 

The final battles are fought, the contest ended, the victory won, the 
supremacy of the nation acknowledged from the Potomac to the Rio 
Grande. Again the star of National destiny is in the ascendant. The 
doctrine of "States Rights" has been trampled under the feet of contending 
armies, and the supremacy of the Government has been lifted upon the 
bayonets of her patriot sons, one land, one people, seeking to preserve a 
common liberty, and to perpetuate a common heritage. 

Peace came, and with her universal liberty. 

" Thank God, we see on every hand 
Breast high, the rip'ning grain crop stand ; 
The orchards bend, the herds increase, 
But oh ! thank God ! thank God for peace." 

The beginning of the civil war found four millions of men in bond- 
age ; for a century Liberty had listened with struggling impatience to the 
clanking of their chains, and in this supreme hour of her victory she 
seized the iron hammer of justice and beat off their shackles, and lifted 
them up, all broken, crushed and bleeding to the plane of universal man- 
hood. 

Never before has any nation been so favored as ours — rich in season, 
fertile in soil, bountiful in harvest, with a strong and determined people ! 
It sits like a sparkling gem in a setting of ocean, reflecting continually 
the light and liberty of its people. Upon every side are the ways and 
means of industry and wealth ; upon either hand the roads to place and 
power, no man need want who is not afraid to work. No man need 
starve who is not ashamed to labor. 



The Army of West Virginia. 63 

Shall all this endure? Shall the liberty purchased by the blood of 
our fathers, and cemented by the blood of our brothers be preserved and 
perpetuated ? Shall the nation, founded for the maintenance of religious 
and civil liberty on this continent remain a blessing to be transmitted to 
our children and our children's children in all the centuries to come ? 

It will endure so long as its people remain enlightened enough to 
love liberty rather than servitude, and powerful enougli to remain free- 
men rather than slaves. 

The National temple is at last complete, and builded of science, of 
industry, and art; the stone which the builders rejected — the stone of 
universal liberty — has at last become the head of the corner. 

Surely, ''God moves in a mysterious way." His plans and His 
purposes are working continually for the good of mankind. We may 
mistake them, but in them there is neither weakness, nor error, nor 
failure. We may doubt the means, and fail to grasp the intentions of the 
Deity, but in His own good time will come the rain and the sunshine, 
the grain will ripen for the harvest, and the golden sheaves will fall before 
the sickle of the Almighty reaper. 

" Our father's God, from out whose hand 
The centuries fall like grains of sand ; 
We meet to-day, united, free, 
And loyal to our land and Thee, 
To thank Thee for the era done, 
And trust Thee for the opening one. 

Oh ! make Thou us, through centuries long. 
In peace secure, in justice strong. 
Around our gift of Freedom draw 
* The safeguard of Thy righteous law, 
And cast in some diviner mould, 
Let the new Cycle shame the old." 

After the address a large number of veterans availed 
themselves of the opportunity to become members of the 
society. 

Adjourned until the evening. 



54 Proceedings of the Society of 



EXPERIENCE MEETING. 

7:30 p. M. 

An immense audience assembled at City Hall filling 
floor and gallery. The band played, and immediately after, 
the curtain in the rear of the stage was withdrawn dis- 
closing a life-like tableau of a camp scene at night. It was 
made more real afterwards when a couple of foragers 
brouo^ht in two live chickens. '' Tenting;' on the Old 
Camp Ground " came in very appropriately from the band 
as the tableau was presented. 

The stag^e was decorated with flag's, some of which 
had seen ami}' service, and around the platform sat the 
distinguished personages present during the former ser- 
vices. 

Governor Dennison was received with loud cheers. 
He concurred heartily in the sentiments of the orator of 
the day and said our volunteer soldiers comprehended the 
magnitude of the rebellion and its true meaning long 
before the regulars. He was willing to forgive the repent- 
ant rebel, but not the unrepentant one. He believed in 
the Constitution ivith the amendments. These and similar 
expressions from him met with loud applause. At the 
close of his remarks the governor was presented with a 
bouquet and made an honorary member of the Society of 
the Army of West Virginia. 

A quartette, " The Flag of Washington," was then 
beautifully sung by Miss Curtis, Mrs. Hodkinson and 
Messrs. Kestermeir and Humphries. 



The Army ok West Virginia. 55 

George K, Jenvey, bugler of the 2d West Virginia 
Cavalr}', made a brief and happy speech that was warmly 
received. 

After some trouble in getting a singer to lead off, 
"Johnny Comes Marching Home " was given, the audi- 
ence joining in the chorus. 

Captain Gibbs, of the Light Artillery, then spoke. 

General Richardson was received with applause. He 
thought one or two of the previous speakers had mani- 
fested too much fear the Government would be destroyed. 
He believed the people would maintain our liberties 
against every encroachment of our rights, whether it be 
the separation of States or consolidated power. This was 
the substance of the first part of his remarks, the last part 
was filled by relating some humorous anecdotes of his 
experience in the war. 

A solo, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground,'' was 
sung by Miss Curtis. 

Colonel W. B. Mason was then introduced and spoke, 
after which Colonel Nye announced that General Nathan 
Goff, Jr., of Clarksburg, West Virginia, was selected to 
deliver the oration next year. 

Mr. George B. Crawford, of Clarksburg, West Vir- 
ginia, made a few remarks. Three cheers were given the 
people of Marietta for their kindness during the reunion, 
and after singing the "Battle Cry of Freedom" the audi- 
ence dispersed, closing a most enjoyable occasion. 



56 Society of the Army of West Virginia. 

THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS, AND PROBABLY SOME 

OTHERS, ARE ENTITLED TO MEMBERSHIP IN THE 

SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF WEST VIRGINIA: 



OHIO REGIMENTS IN ARMY OF WEST VIRGINIA. 
INFANTRY : 

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, lo, ii, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 
24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 40, 41, 44, 47, 55, 60, 61, 62, 66, 
67, 73; 75? 82, 84, 86, 87, 89, 91, 92, no, 116, 122, 123, 126, 191, 
192, 193. 196, and 133, 135, 140, 141, 146, 148, 152, 153, 154, 155, 
160, 161, 167, 170, O. N. Guards. 

CAVALRY : 

Companies A and C, ist O. V. C, 2d and 8th Regts., McLaughlin's 
I St, 3d and 6th Independent Companies. 

ARTILLERY. 

Barnett's, Sturgiss'; ist, McMuUen's; 3d, William's; 12th, Johnston's; 
2ist, Patterson's; 22d, Niel's; 26th, Yost's, these were Independent Bat- 
teries. Battery H, ist O. L. A., Huntington's; Battery I, ist O. L. A., 
Dilger's; Battery L, ist O. L. A., Robinson's; Battery K, ist O. L. 
A., Debeck's; Simmond's Battery; Buell's Battery; Knapp's Battery; 
Keeper's Battery ; Cotter's Battery ; Mack's Battery ; George's Cavalry. 

INDIANA REGIMENTS IN ARMY OF WEST VIRGINIA. 

7th, 8th, loth, nth, 13th, 14th, iSth, i6th Infantry; Daum's 
Indiana Battery. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 
28th, 84th and iioth Infantry; 12th Cavalry. 

WEST VIRGINIA, 
ist, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, loth, nth, 12th, 13th and 
14th Infantry; ist, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, Cavalry; Daum's ist 
Virginia Artillery; Carlin's Virginia Battery; Maltsby's Virginia Battery; 
Baggs' Snake Hunters. 

ILLINOIS. KENTUCKY. 

Chicago Dragoons. ist and 2d Infantry. 
NEW YORK. MICHIGAN. 

io6th Infantry. Loomis' Coldwater Battery. 

UNITED STATES ARMY. 
Clark's 4th Artillery. Howe's Artillery. 



